A Year and a Lifetime Ago
by FallenRose24
Summary: A year ago they had promised each other forever, but they had already experienced a lifetime together. Pretty sure Callie and Arizona's anniversary is going to be completely ignored in the show, so I'm fixing that!


**A/N:** A short ficlet I posted on the Calzona community on LiveJournal a while back... totally forgot to post it here! So you can enjoy this while I work on the next chapter of _I Have __Everything_. I may have taken a creative license with Callie's timeline at Seattle Grace, but I blame that on the fact that we really never given details about her transition from residency to fellowship. Cheers!

* * *

It was raining. That really wasn't much of a surprise considering how many years she had lived in Seattle now – was it eight already? The desperate need for the constant Miami sun had long since been purged from her pores, replaced by an appreciation for the calming sound of dripping water. Still, a part of her had wished that the weather would have gone her way today, just this once. She had wanted sunshine with just enough clouds to create an amazing sunset, but instead she got overcast downpour.

Oh well. It hardly mattered at this point. The sun had long ago set and she was still at home, alone. Instead of dwelling on the ruined image of her night, Callie drew her knees in closer to her chest and took a long sip of the tea keeping her hands warm. She sat curled on the loveseat near the window, just watching the rain.

A year ago today, her life had changed.

To be fair her life had changed a lot longer ago – three years? Where was she at that point in her life? Oh right. How could she forget? She was in the middle of her arthroplasty fellowship, deciding if she wanted to take advantage of the research opportunities the program had available. Work a long shift and then spend hours on end in a lab or work a long shift and go home… alone. It had been a tempting offer to get away from it all, to forget that her marriage had fallen apart, that she hadn't been good enough for George, and that discovering who she truly was made her not good enough for Erica Hahn.

No. Research required introspection, which she had been purposefully avoiding, and it called for confidence, which she was pretty sure had been buried and then stomped on for good measure. She had decided to save her grant proposal on artificial cartilage for another day. That had called for a night at Joe's so she could forget the missed opportunity by staring into the bottom of a bottle of tequila. She had expected to drink herself into oblivion, to wake up on the floor of her apartment without any memory of her post-work rendezvous, but instead, she found herself swept off her feet by the most unlikely person imaginable.

Arizona Robbins had followed her into a dirty bar bathroom and slammed her confidence back into her beating heart with a single touch of her lips.

Her life had been a whirlwind ever since that day: newborn rejection, dancing it out first date, disowned by her family, stupid sandwiches, amazing pizza, night after night of passion, dead ex-husband, got fired, rehired, a father's acceptance, I love you, cartilage research, baby break up, hospital shooting, moving in, Easter basket, Africa, pregnant, car accident, strange singing coma, I'll marry you, Sofia, a mother's rejection, an ex-mother-in-law's acceptance, and peace.

Callie shook her head at her ridiculous internal monologue. That was her life on crack, but despite how crazy it sounded, she decided she wouldn't trade a single part of it for the world. Taking another long sip of her tea, she sighed in content. It had taken them three years, but they were here, happy, healthy, and more in love than they had ever been. Her eyes drifted to the ring on her finger for a brief moment. Tonight they had a reason to celebrate.

She curled tighter into herself, drawing as much warmth as she could from the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Three years ago, her life had been on a downward spiral until she had been caught. Two years ago, she felt inspired enough by her partner's love to send in that grant proposal. One year ago, she was making the greatest commitment of her life. And today, she was a wife, a mother, and officially approved for a clinical trial.

The white envelope rested against her thighs, the IBR logo stamped across the top. It had taken almost two years of hoop jumping to finally get to where she was – a pending patent on artificial cartilage and now, the official green light to begin her trial. She was about take a chance at medical history. The little envelop held so much potential. She couldn't help but smile that she had found out today of all days.

Lightening cracked across the sky and her smile never faded.

* * *

Arizona mumbled a string of curses under her breath as she shook her umbrella in the lobby, trudging to the elevator. Stupid weather. Stupid trauma. Stupid surgery. Was getting home on time just this once really too much to ask? Her shift was supposed to end at 6 – that had been perfect for a night at home with her wife, celebrating one of the happiest days of their life together. But no, at 5:55 she had been paged to the ER, which meant she was now dragging her tired feet home at 10:30.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she stuck her key in the lock and opened their front door with an apology on her tongue. The words never made it out of her mouth as she took in the sight before her eyes. All of the lights were off save for the beautiful glow of candles adorning their dinner table. As she ventured softly into the apartment, she saw the elaborate dinner left untouched, cooled by the hours it had sat on the table. Chicken piccata, Spanish rice, chopped asparagus and a beautiful arrangement of roses framed by bottles of their favorite wine…

She couldn't help the tears that began to well in her eyes. Callie had gone all out, even giving fancy napkin folding a pathetic try, and she had ruined it. Instead of enjoying a romantic, candlelight dinner, she had been in the OR while her wife sat alone. She hadn't even touched the food she had prepared for them. Had she been waiting all this time for her to come home? Would she be mad?

A flash of lightening distracted the PEDs surgeon and drew her eyes to the window. That's when she saw the beautiful silhouette of the woman of her dreams. Dropping her purse gently on the ground and shaking off her wet coat, Arizona made her way into the living room with a loving smile on her lips. She lowered herself onto the arm of the loveseat Callie was curled up on and wrapped her arms around her wife.

They sat there in silence, enveloped in each other's warmth, heads resting side-by-side as they watched the rain draw patterns on the glass. Eventually, the white envelope caught Arizona's eye and her smile widened once she recognized the logo. Without a word, she pressed a sweet kiss to her lover's temple and pressed the side of the woman's face against her chest as she stroked her ebony hair. She could feel Callie's cheeks rise with a smile against her, relaxing into her comforting touch.

"I love you."

Callie blindly set her tea mug on the other arm rest of the couch and wrapped her blanket covered arms around Arizona's middle. She pressed herself against her wife, snuggling even further into her warmth. The sound of her letter clattering to the hardwood floor fell on deaf ears as she looked up into the beautiful eyes of the woman holding her so tenderly.

"I love you, too."

She couldn't help but smile into the kiss that Arizona leaned down to plant on her waiting lips. The touch was so soft it made her toes curl and as a clichéd bolt of lightning illuminated the room around them, Callie could only think of one thing:

Best Anniversary Ever.


End file.
